CHAPTER VIII 



RURAL MANUFACTURES OF NEW YORK 



Rural manufacture includes all those manufactur- 

 ing operations conducted under distinctly farm condi- 

 tions. In the pioneer days in America, a large part of 

 the manufacturing was thus undertaken on the farm 

 and in the home. Not only simple food products 

 and preserves were made there, but the cloth for the 

 family wardrobe was manufactured from the wool 

 and flax grown on the farm which was carded, spun 

 into yarn and woven, colored and made up in the 

 home. The corn and wheat were ground in the farm 

 mill, which was frequently a custom mill. Lumber 

 was taken from the farm woodlot and sawed in the 

 neighborhood mill for the buildings. The rural fam- 

 ily, and especially the rural community, was largely 

 self-sufficient in the manufacture of the things needed 

 by its members. 



With the progress of society, including the devel- 

 opment of machines and power and the possibility 

 of the concentration of labor in large establishments, 

 there has come about the vast changes in manufactur- 

 ing processes ar, they touch the farm and the farm 

 home. A large part of these operations have been 

 transferred from the farm to the city and drawn to- 

 gether in larger and still larger units. This change 



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